Vikings Fail To Sweep Da Bears

With 7 seconds to play, Kirk Cousins’ Hail Mary pass fell into the wrong hands as the Chicago Bear (7-7) beat the Minnesota Vikings (6-8) at U.S. Bank Stadium in a 33-27 shootout.

Bear’s quarterback Mitch Trubisky started off hot completing his first 8 passes and guiding Chicago to a 1st-quarter 10-7 advantage in a game where they never relinquished the lead. Minnesota played catchup the entire game as the Vikings defense struggled to put pressure on Trubisky or stop the run. Running back David Montgomery had a career day for the Bears with 32 carries for 146 yards (2 TD). Trubisky was an efficient 15/21 for 202 yards 1 TD and 1 INT.

It was another heart breaking loss for the Vikings that, for all intents and purposes, ended any playoff aspirations.

The loss was frustrating because the analytics behind the Vikings offense was particularly good again this week. Kirk Cousins was 24/35 271 yards with 2 touchdowns (1 int on the final play), Dalvin Cook carried the ball 24 times for 132 yards (1 TD), and Justin Jefferson caught 8 of 11 targets for 104 yards.

It was nice to see Justin Jefferson break Randy Moss’s record for most reception by a rookie wide receiver (69). Jefferson has two more weeks to build on his now total of 73 catches on the year. It was also a pleasant surprise to see Tyler Conklin haul in 3 receptions for 57 yards and his first career touchdown.

My big play highlight of the game goes to Cam Dantzler’s INT in the back of the end zone on 3rd & goal with under 3 minutes to play which gave the Vikings an opportunity for a game winning drive.

Ok, not so fast… in Vikings like fashion, they came out conservative running the ball twice in the first 3 plays gaining only 3 yards on those runs. After turning the Vikings over on downs, the Bears added another field goal to increase the lead 33-27.

I didn’t like the conservative nature of the play calling after Dantzler’s momentum changing pick because it wasted extra time off the clock which the Vikings could have used on the final Hail Mary possession. Even that drive had clock management issues.

I don’t know, maybe it is time for a coaching change in Minnesota?